News Archive

Scientists at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have developed a new mouse model for studying a childhood brain cancer called medulloblastoma. The animal model mimics the deadliest of four subtypes of human medulloblastoma, a tumor that is triggered by elevated levels of a gene known as Myc.

The quest for treatments for motor neurone disease, spinal cord injury and strokes could be helped by new research that shows how key cells are produced. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have been able to manipulate the production of motor neurones – which control all muscle activity – in zebrafish.

Drug developers have long dreamed of discovering a tonic to trip up the aging process, hunting for genetic clues and compounds that could provide a fountain of youth. U.K. researchers say they have found a recipe for immortality--in flatworms. But the worm study might shine a light on ways to prolong human life too, investigators said.

This may not be news about embryonic stem cells, but it could end up being just as controversial. Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and elsewhere have figured out how to harvest stem cells from a woman's ovaries and encourage them to morph into functional eggs, using human cells in a lab dish and separately, with mice.

Researchers at the Univ. of Copenhagen have designed, produced and patented a new chemical compound for the possible treatment of brain damage caused by stroke. The compound binds 1,000 times more effectively to the target protein in the brain than the potential drug currently being tested on stroke victims.

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have for the first time designed a series of small molecules that act against an RNA defect directly responsible for the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy.

Early research on mice with cancer shows that fasting may weaken tumors and help chemotherapy work better, scientists said on Wednesday. While it remains unknown if the same approach could work in humans, or if it would even be safe, researchers said the findings suggest a promising new route of study for improving response to cancer treatment.

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show that use of a drug in mice appears to quickly reverse the pathological, cognitive and memory deficits caused by the onset of Alzheimer's. The results point to the significant potential that the medication, bexarotene, has to help the roughly 5.4 million Americans suffering from the progressive brain disease.

Researchers hoping to develop a promising new approach to treating cancer in people are trying it in another group: pet dogs. The aim of personalized medicine is to design an optimum cancer therapy after analyzing genes in a patient's tumor.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 - 12:10

Successful testing in mice paves the way toward human trials for patients with osteoporosis

A research team led by UC Davis Health System scientists has developed a novel technique to enhance bone growth by using a molecule which, when injected into the bloodstream, directs the body's stem cells to travel to the surface of bones.

Two women losing their sight to progressive forms of blindness may have regained some vision while participating in an experiment testing a treatment made from human embryonic stem cells, researchers reported today.